Children of Wonderland
by Autumn Blaze
Summary: Savannah and Cheyenne are the children of Alice. It is now there turn to go to underland where they find that it has fallen apart since Alice left. They are the only hopes of the land, but will the learn to accept their destiny. REVIEW PLEASE... :DDD
1. Simple Beginings

**Alice Dunley, **the gravestone read.

Beside it another gravestone read, **Gary Dunley.**

My sister Savannah stared wide eyed, her blue eyes shining with tears. I pulled her into a hug and we stared down at our parent's grave, we were now alone in this world. Our Aunty Clary waited impatiently on the bumpy road; she tapped her feet in impatience as she waited for us to say our farewells. We were to live with her now, in a world of 'Proper' manners with sensible clothing and appropriate ways of talking.

Our parents died during a trip to China to strengthen our trade with them. There ship sunk only minutes after they set off from home, Savannah and I had watched as the ship vanished under the water, taking our parents with it. Years before we were born my mother met my father on a ship they were both travelling to reach China, the married years later, and gave birth to myself and my twin sister Savannah. I guess it was the proper way from them to die, whilst travelling together to reach China, just like they met.

Savannah kneeled down in the softening dirt; her dress was instantly stained with mud. Behind us I heard a sharp intake of breath, Aunty Clary was not approving of what Savannah was doing, we both ignored her.

"Why them Cheyenne?" her voice shuddered as she held back a sob.

I stroked her smooth blond hair "Because, that's the way it is, nothing will change that..."

"I miss them" she sighed, I knelt down beside her, my green eyes were reflected in her blue. We looked nothing alike.

"I miss them too, maybe one day we will see them again"

"I hope so" she gave me a strained grin.

After a few minutes of silence I spoke finally "Savannah?"

"Yes"

"Happy birthday"

She laughed sadly "Happy birthday to you my sister"

I pulled her up to her feet "We are sixteen now, proper young ladies" I spoke sarcastically.

"Proper hmm?" she giggled, a real smile growing on her face, she tugged at one of my brown curls, my hair was a mess of curls like my mother, and the colour of brown like my father. Savannah had mother's hair colour and fathers flowing straight hair.

Something caught Savannah's eye up in the trees, her face lit up with excitement.

"Remember how mother always told us about a little white rabbit?"

"Yes, that led her to Wonderland, or Underhand as it was really called"

"Look the pointed" I turned around to see a rabbit peeking at us from behind a tree. Savannah's face was flushed with excitement.

"Want to go chase it?" I suggested, many emotions flickered over her face.

"We couldn't, with Aunt Clary..." she sighed, but it was too late, I'd already seen the want in her face.

"C'mon" I tugged at her hand; we left our parents behind us, and are waiting Aunty to chase a already disappearing rabbit. There was yelling coming from our Aunts direction, she would be furious. But I did not care; this was our last chance for a moment of fun.

The rabbit dashed far ahead of us, wiggling under roots and hiding behind trees. Savannah and I were squealing with delight when we came to a small clearing, a huge tree stood proudly in the middle. Excitement welled up in both of us, was this the way to Underland?  
"Could it be our turn?" Savannah whispered curiously to me, we took a step forwards, trees sighed in a growing wind. A rabbit hole was tucked around some roots, Savannah and I both peered over and down into its depths. Slowly we descended to the ground; we put our hands on the edge of the hole and leaned towards it.

A furry white head popped out, we jumped back and fell onto the ground. The little rabbit wiggled its nose; another two rabbits appeared from the hole and stared at us suspiciously.

"It's just a normal rabbit hole" I sniggered. The rabbits tensed at the sound.

"We were so excited" she laughed back. We stared at each other and we laughed loudly, each rabbit disappeared into their hole, disappearing from view.

I jumped up and sighed sadly at our dirty dresses, Aunty Clary would be livid. Savannah joined me and soon we were making our way back to the graveyard.

"Cheyenne?" Savannah asked "Why must we live with Aunty Clary, she is a horrible old shrew!"

I snorted with laughter, my hand shot to my mouth with embarrassment before I shrugged "Who else are we to go live with, she is all we have left"

"I wish we could live on our own, why can't we?"

"Because we can't..." my voice drifted off as a saw a white flash disappear behind a bush.

"Cheyenne" Savannah pushed me impatiently "Why can't we?  
I put my forefinger up to her lips "Be quiet" I mouthed.

There was a almost inaudible sound of something cracking, I saw another white of flash. Before I even realised what I was doing, I had grabbed Savannah's hand and pulled her after me, she stumbled slightly before she realised what was happening. A big rabbit was running as fast as it could, a golden chain was swinging around from its paws; I thought I could see a watch. Savannah pulled me to a stop, we were surrounded by trees, everything was perfectly still.

"Where did it go?" Savannah asked.

"Be quiet, listen" I whispered and quietly stepped over the ground, leaves crackled under my slipper like shoes. I pulled them off, feeling completely stupid; Savannah made me feel better when she did the same.

There was a ticking noise to our, my heart rate picked up excitedly, I knew what was happening. Savannah hugged herself to my arm as we walked towards the ticking; a huge hole was dug into the roots of a tree. I moved first, and looked down in the hole, Savannah moved with me. It looked like a normal rabbit hole, I peered closer, everything was dark. I stepped closer to the edge, I looked down into the hole again, I felt myself falling.

"Cheyenne!" Savannah screamed.

We fell together.


	2. Down the Rabbits Hole

Objects zoomed past us, I lost grip of Savannahs hand. A scream ripped out of me as a piano was hurtling my way, it veered off to the right, missing me by a hair. The ending of our fall fastened towards us, a loud gasp jetted out of me as we landed roughly. I was lying down looking at a ceiling. There was a strange turn, my stomach did a flip as we fell one last time, Savannah landed on my, causing me to be momentarily winded, we were officially lying on the proper floor.

She shuffled off me quickly and stood up to look around; her face was alit with excitement "Do you think we are here?"

A small round table was in the middle of the room, it came up to just past my waist "I have no doubts"

She gripped my shoulders tightly "Cheyenne we're really here, am I dreaming?"

"No I don't think you..."

"Slap my face" she interrupted.

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"Slap...my...face" she said slowly.

I laughed and shrugged my shoulders, I slapped her lightly, a small red mark appeared on her cheek.

"I'm not dreaming!" her eyes were wide with shock.

"No you're not; now let's get out of this room"

She looked around confused "There are so many doors!"

"Did you never pay attention to mother's stories?"

"Well..." she looked sheepishly "I did to some of them, you were the one always paying attention to her"

"Well there should be a key" I looked at the table, a smallish key sat patiently. Savannah cheered and her hand zipped out for it, she tested out the three main doors. It didn't work on each of them, I eyed a small door near a corner. She dropped the key on the table and sighed.

"Oh!" she shouted "I remember now." She dropped down to the ground and looked around the legs of the table; she came back up with a tiny little cake.

"Wait!" I said as I remembered mother's story "That one doesn't come first!"

Too late, Savannah nibbled at one end of the little cake and dropped the rest to the ground, for a second she seemed fine, but then she started to grow taller. I moved back as her dress stretched against her, she hit her head on the ceiling roughly, a gasp burst out of her. Soon she was bending over, her back leaning against the ceiling as her face looked at me embarrassedly.

"Oops" she smiled. I rolled my eyes and dropped the key down on the floor. On the table was a small flask with a strange looking liquid inside it. I unscrewed the top and took a sniff, it didn't smell too bad. I lifted it up to Savannah; she took it in her fingers being careful not to squash it. She took a quick scull, drinking half of it before bringing it back down to my waiting hands.

I watched as my sister started to shrink, she stopped once she was at the height of a bit under my knees.

"This is so not fair!" she laughed. I laughed along with her.

"Give me a second" I dripped the last bit of the drink into my mouth; it slid down my throat sending a cold shiver through my body. I started to shrink, I closed my eyes patiently. Savannah tapped my shoulder, my eyes opened a crack, and her growing smile became contagious.

"So we are really here?" she asked.

"It would seem so" I looked around for where I left the key, with a small struggle I lifted it up, Savannah seemed excited, she danced to the tiny door near a corner.

"I'm starting to remember this part of the story..." she grinned and pulled the key from my hands and pushed it into the lock and turned it.

The door swung open, we looked at each other successfully. Savannah took a step and dripped over her now slightly too long dress. She yelped and stared up at me; I sat down beside her and started ripping the excess fabric off my own dress until it came up to just under my knees. She copied quickly and we both dropped the rest of the fabric to the floor.

"Let's go see what the outside world looks like" her voice begged me.

I jumped up "One sec" I ran back to the now tall table and picked up a small half of a cake; I shoved it deep within one of my dress pockets and joined Savannah back by the door.

Together we stepped out, and we didn't see what we expected. The sky was not a shining blue, all the plants were not colourful and cheerful, and they looked old and gnawed. I gripped Savannah's hand, I felt completely confused. This was not the place my mother had once described, nothing was what I thought. Savannah squeezed my hand back; we stepped down a rock made staircase, looking around with wonder and sadness. Night seemed to be falling, and this wasn't the type of place I'd like to be at night.

"Cheyenne" Savannah whispered into my ear "What happens next in the story?"

"Uh, well...I don't fully remember"

"Great, just great, what do you remember?"

I chuckled at about what I was about to say "That we are late..."

"Late?" Savannah giggled "Late for...?"

Something clicked in my mind "The Hatter!"

"Say what?"

"The Hatter, mother talked about a Hatter" I was remembering again.

"Oh, right"

"I wonder where he is" I murmured to myself "Come quick"

We continued into a giant forest, everything seemed so big and dangerous when you were small, I regretted that I wasn't wearing shoes. I let go of Savannah, I was sure I saw a light in the distance, I moved forwards and heard some people chattering. I dashed forwards and came right out in front of a rabbit my size tapping its oversized feet impatiently. It froze when it saw me and Savannah.

"Who are you two?" a man's voice asked us.

"My God, the rabbit just spoke" Savannah said in awe.

The he rabbit wiggled its nose "Yes, I can speak, as can you, who are you two, where is Alice?"

I answered him "I'm Cheyenne, this is my sister Savannah, Alice was our mother"

"Damn, damn, damn," the rabbit tutted at himself "It was supposed to be Alice..."

"Excuse me" Savannah interrupted "We can hear you"

His nose twitched "Of course, follow me quick, quickly now, before 'They' see us"

Savannah looked at me confused, who were 'They' we were both thinking.

"Who are 'They'?"

"No time, quick, I am so late, quick" his voice became impatient.

Without even thinking Savannah and I were soon running after a rabbit.


	3. Run, Flee, Go

The rabbit was inconsiderate as we chased after it, our feet were numb from the cold, and the land we were running over was new to us. He dashed behind a tree, Savannah and I stumbled afterwards, worried we'd end up being lost in this strange world. In the distance I would see a slight mess covering a clearing, the rabbit paused for us and looked over the mess with sad eyes. There were three or four tables, tipped over and aged with decay. Cups, spoons and old dead food scattered the ground like wounded soldiers that were forgotten over time.

A sharp pain pierced my heart while I took this in, Savannah's grip tightened in mine as she felt my emotions through our sisterly bond.

"What happened here?" I whispered.

"We were late" the rabbit sighed sadly, I realised he wouldn't end up telling us his name.

"What were we late for?" Savannah asked confused.

I looked up into the rabbit's eyes "What has happened since our mother left?"

The rabbit seemed to think about who to answer first "Everything has changed"

"Like what?" I asked patiently, the rabbit seemed so different from how mother described him.

"I cannot tell you both here, too dangerous, yes, yes, way too dangerous, we must go"

"Go where?" Savannah asked suspiciously.

"We must try and reach the White Queen that is the only safe place" he muttered.

I was about to agree with him and explain to Savannah that the White Queen was trustworthy when a large howl went off in the distance.

Savannah grabbed my arm "What was that?"

The rabbit tensed, his ears twitched "The Red Queens minions are beginning the hunt!"

"The hunt for what" Savannah's voice rose loudly.

"The hunt for your mother..."

"But she isn't here"

I realised what the rabbit meant, I turned Savannahs face to mine "But we are..."

"Oh" she choked. Another howl broke out into the falling night, the rabbit looked at us.

"I will distract it, run, flee, go" the rabbit whispered "Don't look back, find the Hatter, go!"

Savannah was about to disagree, she always had a soft spot for animals. Before she could say no I pushed her shoulder and then pulled her along, I could feel the rabbit's eyes on us as we left. The howling was closer now; fear grew inside me as we ran. The rabbit had said to find the Hatter, the Hatter, the name rang a bell, but I couldn't seem to figure out how. We continued running, as fast as our feet allowed.

It started raining.

"How are we supposed to run now, the will end up catching us" Savannah sighed.

Suddenly I was smiling "No the wont, the rain will wash away our scent!"

Savannah's face perked up "Okay then, but where will we hide?" I looked around; there were many trees around us with gnarled roots sticking out, that wouldn't be an appropriate hiding place.

"I don't think we should hide, we should keep moving...and find the Hatter"

Savannah nodded "But who is the Hatter, where will we find him?"

"No idea, maybe he'll find us" I shrugged and started to walk. My feet felt painfully numb, they were stained with mud.

Savannah and I walked shoulder to shoulder, my eyes felt droopy, I stumbled and fell. Savannah was instantly kneeling beside me, asking if I was okay.

"I'm fine" I sighed to her "Just really tired"

"So am I" she grinned as she helped me up "But let's find a dry place to sleep"

"Okay then" I agreed, I followed her to a small tree that was a bit taller than our small forms, huge leaves grew out from it. We curled up together and listened as the rain fell heavily around is, thundering loudly.

Savannah's eyes instantly closed and I watched as she drifted off into a peaceful sleep. Even though I was annoyingly tired I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I closed my eyes and imagined mother telling Savannah and I a story. She would always start off with a small sigh and then straighten out our bed sheets before leaning back in a chair and beginning. Her voice was always sweet; she was a natural story teller. Tears started to slide down my face as I thought of her, I stood up and moved out from the protection of the leaves, rain pounded down on me, hiding away my tears. My body shook from the cold, my hair clung to my face.

I closed my eyes again and tried to imagine this land as mother had described it from the White Queens castle. The skies were a soft blue, and grass a stunning shade of green. The castle a beautiful white that felt safe and heart warming. I remember how she talked about a person that went against the rules of a battle to give her a chance to live, so she could grab her sword and fight; The Hatter. My eyes flew open as I remembered that small part of her story. The Hatter had asked my mother to stay, why didn't she?

My feet subconsciously walked backwards to where Savannah snore quietly, I sat down beside her and stroked her face. She was only minutes younger than I, water dripped from my face as I pushed back my hair out of my eyes. Sleep was now an impossibility, the very chance of me sleeping was long gone. Which was for the best, at least I could keep a lookout for anything sneaking up on us. I looked out from our hiding place into the trees surrounding us, a small glimpse of orange appeared and then disappeared. My heart started to pump into panic mode; I stilled myself completely and looked out for the orange again. Beside me Savannah started to giggle crazily and then rolled over her. What was she dreaming of?

My eyes caught the colour of orange again, it was much closer. I shuffled so I was in front of Savannah protectively; whatever was coming wouldn't get to her first. I heard the sound of feet now over the rain, it came closer and closer. I watched as the two feet paused a meter away in front of me. I held my breath and bit my lip. The thing knelt down; he had curly red hair, bright green eyes and a wide toothy smile, with a slight gap in between his two front teeth.

His eyes seemed excited before they dulled slightly.

"You aren't Alice" his voice lisped slightly.


	4. Afraid of Heights

Those two round eyes peered at me fiercely, without thinking I realised I'd started poking Savannah awake from her sleep.

"What are you doing, I need more sleep..." she huffed, and looked past me to the strange man "Oh!"

"You knew our mother?" my voice came out quietly.

"Alice, Alice, she lost her muchness but found it again, where is Alice?" his voice had a slight lisp.

"She is dead" Savannah croaked emotionally "Why are you looking for her?"

"Alice is dead" he looked shocked "Alice..." he started murmuring inaudible words, his eyes turned red scaring Savannah.

"Snap out of it!" I shouted up at him.

His eyes turned green again, he pouted and his voice was drawn "Thankyou"

I stood up, Savannah quickly followed me nervously, we walked out from under the leaf, the man jumped up and moved backwards. Savannah and I both finally realised how small we actually were, in length I only came up to just under the man's knee.

"Who are you?" Savannah asked politely.

"I am the Hatter, I need Alice" he said with a sweep of his top hat.

"We told you, she died" Savannah sighed impatiently.

The Hatter's face became confused then sad, my heart reached out to him, "She cannot be dead; Alice is here we will find Alice!"

I tugged at his pants to grab his attention, he looked down at me "Our mother is not here, she is dead, but could we help you?"

The Hatter knelt down, his long bright orange eyebrows were raised "Who are you? Do you have muchness?"

"I'm Cheyenne, this is my sister Savannah" I grinned "What is muchness?"

He tapped my chest where my heart was "That is muchness"

"Heart?" Savannah asked confused "Why didn't you just say heart?"

I shushed her "Hatter, what has happened here, does the White Queen not rule anymore?"

The Hatter's face became serious, a small tinge of red sparkled in his green eyes.

"The Red Queen has been making an army of creatures that were banished, Alice was supposed to come and save us"

For some reason I felt brave "Our mother is not here, and will not be coming, we are the only ones here, so make do with the best you have!"

The Hatter was about to reply when there was a galloping noise off in the distance "Quick drink this!" he shoved a small vile at my mouth I took a sip and passed it to Savannah, we instantly shrunk to a much smaller size, our dresses hung past our feet. The Hatter picked Savannah up first and strangely enough sat her on his head, then he gently did the same with me, his top hat came over the top of us and everything turned dark.

Savannah and I became silent; she gripped onto the sides of the hat while I held onto his slightly curly red hair as he began to walk. The sound of galloping came closer, I listened as it seemed to pause and then continue past us, and I counted the minutes until the hat was lifted off.

Savannah squealed "Who was that?"

The Hatter reached up and picked us up in each hand and put us down on the ground.

"More like what" his face became cheeky "You will trip over your clothes"

I looked down and laughed "Yes we will." I then started ripping at me dress so it was once again up to my knees; Savannah did the same with a small struggle.

The Hatter's eyes were watching us widely, his grin was back again and the slight gap between his two front teeth was noticeable. His top hat was once again back on his head, I noticed it was old and burnt on some parts, a reason for this tickled at the back of my mind, but I couldn't remember.

"Quick, we must make it to the White Queen" he started walking; Savannah and I ran after him, but being so small we fell behind instantly. One of his steps was many of our, he noticed we were lagging behind and grabbed us and dropped us onto the brim of his hat. My heart thudded at the height, I felt myself squeaking out a protest. Savannah loved the height but my world started to spin, I clamped my eyes shut. Three fingers wrapped around me and slowly lowered me downwards, my eyes stayed shut until I was sure I was not moving through the air anymore. I was sitting on the Hatters shoulder; he was looking down at me from the corner of his eyes. I attempted to smile but a jolt went through his body as he took another step, causing me to scream and grab at his shirt collar. I heard Savannah's laughter drifting down from above me.

After a while of walking my body relaxed, I took in the surroundings instead of holding onto the Hatters collar tightly. A squawk went off every few minutes; I could feel the Hatter tense every time there was. I pretended to be brave and stood up on his shoulder; I practically hugged at his neck and kept my face pressed up to it until I could convince myself to move towards his ear.

Another squawk went off, I whispered into his ear "Are we being followed?"

"I haven't..." he was cut off as another squawk went off. I couldn't see but I head a scream come from above, and then I saw a swooping down from the Hatters hat with my sister in its claws.

"I have the Alice" the bird screech. I screamed out Savannah's name but it was too late, she was gone.

I started to hit the Hatters neck, sobs erupted from me.

"My sister, my sister, this is your entire fault!" I yelled at him.

He picked me up and brought me close to his face "I'll take you to the White Queen; she will know what to do!"

"No!" I screamed at him "I want my sister!"

His face dropped into sadness "We can't..."

"Well I can!" I was crying now "Let me go"

He did, I felt myself drop, my stomach rose towards my mouth, but then suddenly his hand caught me, he cradled my like a baby, a very small baby that could fit in one hand.

I mentally decided he was right "Take me to the White Queen..."


End file.
